31 MARCH 2015

Pacman Congratulates Bradley like The True Sportsman He Is

By Clive Bernath: Boxing fans witnessed both the good and the bad things about the sport of boxing in Las Vegas last weekend. The bad of course was what appeared to be Manny Pacquiao’s highly controversial 12 round split points decision loss to Timothy Bradley(In my opinion at least).

How judges Duane Ford and CJ Ross made Bradley a 115-113 winner over arguably the pound for pound best boxer in the world is beyond me. Admittedly some of the rounds were difficult to score but Pacquiao landed twice as many punches, was the far busier fighter and his trademark straight left hand found Bradley’s granite chin pretty much at will. Even conservatively I scored the bout for Pacman by eight rounds to four. In fact pretty much everyone in the huge MGM Garden Arena made Pacquiao a handy winner apart from Ford and Ross.

Boxing has always courted controversy and this highly controversial decision was as bad as it gets. Any other fighter would be downright incensed at such a miscarriage of justice but Pacquiao accepted the decision with respect and integrity like a true gentleman which of course displays all that is good about sport of boxing.

During an interview with HBO in the ring after the fight Pacquiao, graciously patted Bradley on the shoulder to congratulate him and said:“ You know, I accept the decision I respect the judges its part of the game I thank the lord. I did my best. I respect him(Bradley) and that’s the decision. I respect the judges.”

Bradley, for his part, insisted he would be happy to give Pacquiao a rematch, probably in November. “I’m not satisfied said Bradley . “You can hear the boos in the crowd, They may be Pacquiao fans but lets do it again. I need to go back and replay the tape and see if I did win the fight. “

I must admit that as soon as this fight was made I thought Pacquiao was mad to take a fight with Bradley. I thought the styles were all wrong and honestly thought Bradley could fiddle Pacquiao out of the fight. The two judges may well have seen just that but from where I was sitting I saw a far busier, stronger, more accurate Pacman fiddled out of a decision. There is only one way to right this wrong and that is for the WBO to order an immediate rematch.